Republican U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, left, of Kentucky, left, listens to Steve Lonegan, candidate for U.S. Senate in New Jersey, at a rally in Clark, N.J., Friday, Sept. 13, 2013.

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| Statehouse Bureau

Cory Booker is seeing his lead in the special U.S. Senate race in New Jersey tighten slightly, and a plurality of voters believe his national profile is more important to the Newark mayor than serving the state, according to a new Monmouth University poll.

Booker, a nationally prominent Democrat, still is maintaining a double-digit lead, the poll results show, but Republican Steve Lonegan has closed the gap a little since the last Monmouth University survey in August.

Booker now holds a 13-point lead, 53-40 percent, rather than a 16-point lead, but the difference is within the poll's margin ...